mM: 


y  ,  ^  c  .  c  __ 


<J^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  ^ 


Presented   bpPcQ-  7B~S  .  \/  ^  (7\r\\  <2j  V  O  ,~S)  ."D . 

Division .Trrrr.Trrv.— ^ 

Section  . .  P*^     '  / 


THE 


Magazine  of  Christian  Literature. 


Vol.  1. 


DECEMBER,    1889. 


No.  3. 


For  The  Maoaziite  of  Christian  Literature. 

REDEMPTION  AFTER  DEATH. 

BY    PROFESSOR   CHARLES   A.    BRIGGS,    D.D.,    UNION   THEOLOGICAL   SEMINARY,    N.  Y.    CITY. 


The  time  has  fully  come  when  Protestant 
Churches  are  compelied  to  confront  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Middle  State  and  the  nature  of 
Christian  life  therein.  This  crisis  is  duo  : 
(1)  to  an  entire  change  of  attitude  toward 
the  Second  Advent  of  Jesus  Christ  ;  (3)  to 
the  spread  in  the  churches  of  the  Arminian 
doctrine  of  probation  ;  (3)  to  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  new  doctrine  of  the  uni- 
versal salvation  of  infants  ;  (4)  to  the  devel- 
opment of  the  doctrine  of  sin  and  guilt  in 
connection  with  a  further  unfolding  of  Phil- 
osophical Ethics  and  a  deeper  study  of  Chris- 
tian Ethics.  In  these  four  directions  Prot- 
estantism and  especially  Calvinistic  Church- 
es, have  departed  a  long  distance  from  the 
Creeds  of  the  Reformation  and  the  Confes- 
sion and  Catechisms  of  Westminster. 

/.  Liiniting  the  Love  of  God. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Middle  State  depends 
chiefly  upon  the  doctrine  of  redemption. 
All  mankind  are  born  into  this  world  in  a 
condition  of  sin  and  ruin.  All  need  re- 
demption. Redemption  is  born  of  the  love 
of  God.  God  is  love.  The  love  of  God  is 
the  well-spring  of  election,  predestination 
unto  life,  and  all  the  acts  and  works  ©f  God 
for  the  accomplishment  of  the  redemption 
of  man.  It  i^audootrine  of  scholastic  Prot- 
estants that  div'inc  sovereignty  is  the  source 
of  the  election..  Some  of  these  scholastic 
divines  have  goile  so  far  in  their  subordina- 
tion of  the  divijno  love  to  the  divine  sover- 
eignty, tliat  they  have  pushed  the  love  of 
God  and  the  compassion  of  the  heavenly 
Father  behind  the  justice  of  the  judge  and 
the  good  pleasure  of  the  sovereign  ;  and 
thereby  liave  come  close  to  the  unpardonable 
sin  of  limiting  the  grace  of  God  and  denying 
the  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit.  A  genuine 
f  Protestantism,  sucli  as  we  find  in  the  creeds 
I  of  the  Reformation,  teaches  that  God's  elec- 
I  tion  is  an  election  of  ffrace.     The  grace  of 


God  is  so  vast  and  inexhaustible  that  we\ 
may  assume  that  God  will  redeem  a  larger  I 
number  of  our  race  than  any  man  could  sup- 1 
pose.     God's  love  and  power  to  save  are  in- 
finitely greater  than  the  love  and  redemptive 
yearnings  of  all  creatures  combined.  I 

The  love  of  God  works  redemption 
through  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  and  through  the  Holy  Spii-it,  who 
imparts  the  new  life  and  growth  without 
which  salvation  is  impossible  ;  and  also 
through  the  paternal  superintendeaice  and 
government  of  tlie  Heavenly  Father.  The 
redeemed  consist,  tlierefore,  of  those  who 
belong  to  the  elect  of  God,  who  have  been 
purchased  by  Jesus  Christ  and  who  have 
been  born  of  the  Holy  Sj^irit.  The  re- 
deemed consist  of  the  elect  only.  Tiiere  can 
be  no  redemption  that  does  not  oricl;inate  in 
the  election  of  grace  ;  in  the  love  of  the 
Heavenly  Father's  heart.  The  R^formersl 
and  Puritans  apprehended  the  love  of  God 
and  magnified  the  divine  grace  in  election 
and  predestination.  That  is  the  reason  they 
made  so  much  of  these  high  doctrines. 
Tliey  also  emphasised  the  doctrine  of  fof^ 
giveness  of  sins,  Avhich  is  so  closely  related 
to  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  grace.  Scho- 
lastic divines,  when  they  substitutgd  sov-l 
ereign  election  for  the  election,  of  g^*ace,  di- 1 
vided  mankind  into  two  classes,  thbse  pre-  | 
destinated  unto  life  and  those  predclstinated 
unto  everlasting  death,  and  thus  m  ide  both 
classes  dependent  upon  the  good  pli  asure  of  I 
the  will  of  the  sovereign,  without  i  ogard  to 
their  actual  sins  or  acceptance  of  tic  provi-^ 
sions  of  redemption.  As  a  natural  result  of 
this  theory  the  mass  of  mankind  were 
doomed  to  everhisting  perdition  in  lell  fire, 
and  only  a  few  were  snatched  from  t'  lo  burn- 
ing. These  scholastic  divines  alsfl  substi- 
tuted God  the  Judge  for  God  tha  Father, 
and  accordingly  overlooked  the  Fal  herhood 
of  God  and  abandoned  the  doctrlili  f  of  f or- 


/ 


^^^»    /(jLC^A^   f^t   '    ^^^-^   /^C^  U^     li 


106 


MAGAZINE  OF  CHRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 


[Dec, 


ojiveness  of  sins.  The  supreme  forms  of 
this  scholasticism  were  the  supralapsarian 
theory,  that  made  the  decree  of  election  and 
pretcrition  prior  to  the  decrees  of  the  crea- 
tion and  the  fall  of  man,  and  the  kindred 
Antinomian  theory,  that  made  justification 
eternal  and  entirely  independent  of  human 
faith  and  repentance.  8uch  scholasticism 
had  no  need  of  a  jMiddle  State  between 
Death  and  the  Day  of  Judgment.  It  is  hard 
to  see  what  need  there  was  of  life  in  the 
present  world.  It  is  difficult  for  this  theory 
to  explain  why  God  did  not  send  men  to 
heaven  and  hell  at  once  in  accordance  with 
his  arbitrary  and  eternal  decree,  which  has  no 
respect  to  life  in  this  Avorld  and  life  after 
death,  without  requiring  them  to  iindergo  a 
life  and  death  which  have  no  effect  what- 
ever upon  their  eternal  welfare.  Antino- 
mianism  has  ever  been  regarded  as  a  heresy. 
It  was  a  sad  mistake  that  supralapsarianism 
was  not  placed  with  Antinomianism  in  the 
catalogue  of  heresies.  The  repute  of  a  few 
distinguished  divines,  who  maintained  it, 
ought  not  to  have  restrained  the  Church 
from  branding  their  error  with  the  stigma 
it  deserves. 

God's  love  is  a  love  that  is  eternal  in  its 
origin.  It  is  also  everlasting  in  its  outgo- 
ings toward  God's  creatures.  It  is  a  love 
time  and  above  and  beyond  all  time, 
also  a  love  that  enters  into  time  and 


hension 


prior  to 
but  it  it 
pervades  all  time.     If  we  have  a  real  appre- 


of  the  Living  God  and  of  the  Fa- 


therhoo  1  of  God  we  cannot  doubt  that  the 
divine  ove  is  a  living  and  unfolding  love, 
and  that  it  assumes  the  form  of  parental  love 
that  never  forsakes  the  child  from  his  birth 
onward  through  all  the  ages  of  his  growth, 
even  to  the  end.  From  this  point  of  view, 
if  life  in  this  world  is  brief  and  life  in  the 
Middle  State  is  long,  we  must  rise  to  the 
conception  of  the  love  of  God  as  accomplish- 
inoj  even  greater  works  of  redemption  in  the 
Middle  State  than  in  this  world.  The  Ro- 
man Catholic  Church  has  ever  had  this  con- 
ception. Its  doctrine  of  purgatory  has  a 
powerful  influence  upon  the  religious  life  in 
this  woi-kl,  and  upon  the  entire  system  of 
Roman  Theology.  Protestantism,  when  it 
threw  overboard  the  Roman  Catholic  doc- 
trine of  purgatory,  also  threw  away  with  it 
much  oj  the  ancient  Catholic  doctrine  of  the 
Middle  ^tate.  It  magnified  the  love  of  God 
in  the  ,  ^race  of  election  and  forgiveness  of 
wins  in  i  his  life,  but  did  not  trace  the  work- 
ings of    lie  divine  grace  in  the  Middle  State. 

//.  Tlie  Living  Ood. 

ProtAtantism,  however,  laid   hold  of  the 
doctrinAof  the  Living  God,  and  found  vital 


union  with  Him  in  redemption,  and,  in  this 
respect,  overcame  the  abstract  ideas  of  God 
that  governed  the  Roman  Church.  This 
doctrine  of  the  Living  God  was  abandoned 
by  Protestant  scholastics.  Dr.  Isaac  Dorner  • 
again  brought  it  into  prominence,  and  it  is 
becoming  fruitful  in  a  living  theology.  This 
doctrine  is  important  for  the  unfolding  of 
the  Middle  Stp,te.  Those  who  are  in  vital Ij 
relations  with  the  Living  God  can  never  die.  jl 
They  live  on  beyond  the  gate  of  death  ;  they 
live  the  life  of  God,  in  communion  with 
God.  Such  a  life,  hid  in  this  world  with 
Christ,  there  manifests  itself  in  its  richness 
and  fulness.  It  unfolds  from  one  degree  of 
glory  into  another.  What  wonders  of  re- 
demption are  wrapped  up  in  life  with  God  ! 
What  infinite  possibilities  are  within  the 
reach  of  that  being  whose  life  is  begotten  of 
God,  and  whose  life  has  no  other  end  or  aim 
than  the  transcendent  experience  of  divine 
sonship  and  the  supreme  blessedness  of  God- 
likeness  ! 

///.  Narrow  Views  of  Redemption. 

Protestantism  was  at  fault  in  taking  too 
narrow  a  view  of  redemption.  It  Avas  nec- 
essary to  magnify  justification  by  faith  and 
carefully  separate  it  from  sanctification  and 
glorification,  but  it  was  a  mistake  to  lay 
such  stress  on  justification  and  faith  that 
sanctification  and  love  were  thrown  into  the 
backgi'ound,  and  this  to  such  an  extent  that 
some  divines  had  the  assurance  to  teach 
that  good  works  were  hurtful  to  salvation. 
This  narrowing  of  the  original  base  of  the 
Reformation  was  the  chief  reason  why  Staup- 
itz  and  other  evangelical  men  preferred  to 
remain  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  The  Church 
01  Rome  still  maintains  a  more  comprehen- 
sive view  of  redemption  than  is  common  in 
Protestant  Churches.  Her  fault  is  that  she 
does  not  distinguish  and  properly  define 
justification  and  sanctification.  Protes- 
tantisyi  defined  justification,  but  left  sanc- 
tification in  a  very  uncertain  condition. 
The  Puritan  Reformation  unfolded  the  doc- 
trine of  sanctification  and  defined  it  as  a 
progressive  work  of  God,  but  did  not  define 
^  its  appropriating  instrument.  It  laid  stress 
on  "the  importance  of  ^anotification  in  this 
life.  It  saw  that  sanctification  must  be| 
completed  in  the  Middle  State,  but  it  left! 
this  subject  in  such  an  obscure  form  that  it 
has  been  the  general  opinion  in  Calvinistic 
Churches  that  sanctification  was  completedf 
at  the  very  moment  of  death.  ' 

IV.  Judgment  at  Death. 

This  interpretation  was  favored  by  the 
scholastic  divines,  who  coined  the  doctrine 


1889.J 


REDEMPTION  AFTER  DEATH. 


107 


of  a  judgment  at  death  which  assigns  to 
heaven  or  hell  or  purgatory.  This  doctrine 
of  a  judgment  at  death  has  no  warrant  in 
the  Scriptures  or  in  the  creeds  of  Christen- 
dom. It  is  not  only  unsupported  by  Scrip- 
ture and  the  Symbols,  but  it  violates  them 
all  ;  for  it  throws  the  day  of  judgment  into 
the  background,  robs  it  of  its  place  and  im- 
portance in  the  Christian  system  and  in  re- 
ligious experience,  and  applies  many  passages 
of  Scripture  that  belong  only  to  it,  to  the 
judgment  at  death,  and  so  makes  death  the 
supreme  issue. 

Furthermore,  the  doctrine  of  a  judgment 
at  death  is  a  heathen  doctrine  derived  from 
the  lieathcn  mythological  conception  of  a 
god  of  the  realm  of  the  dead.  It  was  taken 
up  by  the  scholastic  divines  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  borrowed  from  them  by  the  Prot- 
estant scholastics.  It  does  violence  to  the 
doctrine  of  Scripture  and  the  creeds,  that 
the  human  race  had  its  probation  in  Adam, 
and  when  he  fell  was  judged  in  him  and 
condemned  to  death  and  the  abode  of  the 
lost.  The  heathen  doctrine  of  a  judgment 
at  death  throws  both  the  or!  spinal  judgment 
and  the  final  judgment  into  the  background, 
and  puts  a  crisis  in  a  false  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  redemption.* 

V.  The  Second  Advent. 

Furthermore,  the  attitude  of  Theology, 
in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries, 
has  been  changed  toward  the  great  crisis  of 
the  Second  Advent  and  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment. The  doctrine  of  the  Scriptures  and 
the  doctrine  of  the  Church  in  all  its  Creeds 
and  Liturgies  is  that  the  Advent  is  immL- 
nent.  Tlus  is  expressed  in  that  wonderful 
"fiymn.  Dies  Irce.  But  in  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury two  errors,  that  were  revived  by  the 
Anabaptists  and  a  few  isolated  scholars, 
gained  a  rapid  supremacy  in  the  Theology 
of  the  Protestant  Churclies.  The  one  of 
these  is  the  Premillenarian  doctrine.  This 
separated  the  advent  of  the  Messiah  by 
a  thousand  years  from  the  last  judgment. 
It  retained  the  church  doctrine  of  the  im- 
minency  of  the  Advent,  but  pushed  the 
divine  judgment  into  the  background. 
The  other  error  was  still  more  serious,  for 
it  postponed  the  second  Advent  as  well  as 
tlic  judgment  until  after  the  Millennium  had 
been  completed,  and  thus  antagonized  the 
doctrine  of  the  Cluirchas  to  the  great  crisis. 
Til  is  latter  opinion  has  so  prevailed  in  the 
nineteenth  century,  that  it  has  been  regard- 
ed as  orthodox,  owing  to  its  advocacy  by 


*  See  ISn^'n^tdthefy  pp.  flto  ieq.,  1889,  Charles  Scribner'a 

Sons. 


leading  divines  in  the  British  and  American 
Churches.  * 

Both  of  these  serious  errors  should  be  ban- 
ished, with  the  doctrine  of  a  particular  judg- 
ment at  death,  as  all  alike  contrary  to  the 
Scriptures  and  the  Creeds  ;  and  us  obstruc- 
tions to  the  development  of  a  Biblical  and 
Historical  Theology.  The  Millennium  of  the 
Scriptures  and  of  the  Fathers  is  not  an  ob- 
ject for  our  future  expectation.  The  Church 
has  already  enjoyed  that  experience  and  is 
enjoying  it  now.  The  Millennium  of  popu- 
lar conception  is  a  conceit  without  support 
in  the  Scriptures  or  in  the  Creeds.  The  \ 
crisis  that  we  are  to  look  forward  to,  long 
for,  watch  for,  and  pray  for,  is  the  Advent  of 
our  Ijord  in  glory  and  judgment  at  the  end 
of  the  age,  to  glorify  his  saints  and  perfect  * 
his  kingdom.  In  modern  Eschatology  the 
Millennium  has  usurped  the  place  of  the 
Middle  State. 

VI.  The  Means  of  Grace 

The  Roman  Catholics  teach  that  the  di- 
vine grace  is  imparted  by  the  sacraments  of 
tlie  Church.  Accordingly,  all  who  have  not 
enjoyed  these  sacraments  are  excluded  from 
heaven,  and  also  from  purgatory.  The 
Lutherans  teach  that  the  grace  of  God  is 
imparted  by  word  and  sacraments.  It  is 
difficult  for  the  Lutheran  to  extend  re- 
demption beyond  the  bounds  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  and  the  use  of  the  means  of 
grace.  The  Reformed  Churches  teach  that 
the  divine  grace  is  not  limited  to  the  ordi- 
nary means,  and  hence  the  Divine  Spirit  may 
work  apart  from  the  Church  and  its  ordi- 
nances, and  so  it  is  possible  to  conceive  that 
the  Kingdom  of  God  is  more  CKtensive  than 
the  visible  Church.  But  the  question  still 
remains.  How  may  the  divine  grace  be  ap- 
propriated by  the  person  to  be  redeemed  ? 

The  Protestant  Reformation  madi;  an  im- 
portant advance  in  the  History  of  Doctrine 
by  its  definition  of  Justification  hy  Faith 
only.  This  is  the  banner  doctrine  of  Prot- 
estantism, the  doctrine  by  which  the  Cliurch 
stands  or  falls.  The  Roman  Catholics  con- 
found justification  and  sanctification,  Tliey 
make  sanctification  tlie  product  of  the  sac- 
raments of  the  Church  in  this  life.  It  is  ap- 
propriated by  the  use  of  the  sacraments.  It  , 
is  carried  on  in  the  Middle  State  by  purga-  0 
torial  fires.  The  Protestants  separated  justi- 
fication from  sanctification,  and  represented 
that  justification  was  appropriated  hy  faith 
alone,  and  not  through  the  bare  use  of  the 
sacraments.  They  taught  that  sanctification 
was  the  fruit  of  justification,  but  mey  did 


♦  Brings'  WfiWier?  pp.  200  seq. 


tt 


d:UJZ(/4s:^ 


not  carefully  define  it.  It  is  the  merit  of 
tlie  Puritan  Reformation  that  it  defined 
sauctification,  rejientance,  and  the  doctrines 
related  to  them.  These  doctrines  were  con- 
sidered in  their  relation  to  this  life  and  the 
ultimate  state,  but  were  not  applied  to  tlie 
Middle  State. 

Calvinism  remained  indifferent  to  the 
question  of  the  Middle  State,  because  it  was 
content  to  leave  all  to  the  electing  grace  of 
God. 

VII.  Probation. 

But  Arminianism  and  Semi-Arminianism 
could  not  be  so  indifferent.  Daniel  Whitby 
first  formulated  the  doctrine  of  Probation  in 
this  life,  in  his  attack  upon  the  Five  Points 
of  Calvinism  ;  and  Bishop  Butler  gave  it 
currency  among  all  the  opponents  of  Eng- 
lish Deism,  so  that  it  has  been  largely  ap- 
propriated by  Calvinists,  and  has  in  many 
respects  warped  Calvinistic  Theology.* 

The  doctrine  that  this  life  is  a  probation 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  it  is  so  in  fact 
only  to  a  very  small  portion  of  our  race. 
And  if  the  redemption  of  a  part  depends  on 
their  useof  their  j)robation,  how  can  those 
'  "be  saved  who  have  no  probation  at  jill  ?  It 
\/  seems  necessary,  therefore,  to  e'xiend  proba- 
tion for  these  into  the  Middle  State,  or  to 
give  the  vast  majority  of  mankind  over  to 
the  devil.  Accordingly,  Whitby  tauglit  the 
aimihilation  of  the  wicked, f  and  Butler 
consistently  held  to  the  extension  of  proba- 
tion into  tlie  future  life.  J  Other  probation- 
ists  must  either  follow  their  example  or  else 
abandon  the  doctrine  of  probation  altogeth- 
er. Arminians  and  Semi-Arminians  must 
in  the  end  take  one  of  these  two  alternative 
courses. 

Arminians  and  Semi-Arminians,  who  are 
in  our  churches,  and  who  believe  in  the  doc- 
trine of  probation,  must  face  this  question. 
^       If  probation  is  to  be  extended  to  the  Middle 
^A/,  State,  they  must  in  some  way  conceive  of 
^f     the  gospel  extending  into  Hades,  for  it  is 
difficult  to  see  any  possibility  for  rci't^uera- 
tion  there^without it.     Several  t luinics  have 
"been  proposed  to  overcome  this  difficulty. 

(1)  Some  think  that  when  our  Saviour 
preached  to  the  imprisoned  spirits  ho  organ- 
ized those  whom  he  saved  into  a  church, 
and  left  them  in  Abaddon  with  a  commis- 
sion to  preach  his  gospel  to  the  lost.  This 
is  not  in  itself  impossible.  It  might  be  said 
that  such  a  mission  would  be  so  difficult  and 
exacting,  that  it  is  hard  to  believe  that  the 
SaviouB  would  lay  it  upon  any  of  his  re- 


[Dfec, 


.        108/    ^  TT    MAGAZWE   OF  QMRISTIAN  LITERATURE. 


y 


Ittff^-milthfj-  ?  pp.  217 
'  titncntaries,  II.  These. 
Jalogy,  1.  13,  II.  6. 


feq. 

p.  391,  cd.  1710. 


deemed.  And  yet  I  cannot  help  the  thought 
that  there  have  been  and  are  to-day  Chris- 
tians who  would  be  willing  to  go  into  the 
depths  of  Abaddon  to  glorify  Christ  and  save 
souls.  How  much  more,  those  Avho  may 
have  been  redeemed  by  Christ  in  Abaddon 
itself  might  regard  it  as  a  privilege  to  labor 
for  him  in  this  prison  of  the  lost  T 

(3)  It  has  been  conjectured  that  hypo- 
crites and  others,  who  know  the  gospel,  but 
have  no  saving  experience  of  it  here,  may 
recall  it  there  and  be  saved  by  it,  and  in  this 
way  become  the  iireachers  of  Hades.  In 
that  ingenious  book.  Letters  from  Hell,  the 
author  suggests  that  hypocritical  priests  and 
people  assemble  in  church  on  the  sabbaths 
in  Hell  as  was  their  habit  in  this  world,  and 
that  they  are  tormented  by  not  being  able  to 
recall  the  gospel  to  their  minds.  It  seems 
to  me  that  it  is  far  more  likely  that  the 
larger  portion  of  them  would  remember  it. 
Such  a  paralysis  of  the  memory  is  unpsycho- 
logical.  The  lost  are  not  to  be  imbeciles  or 
madmen. 

And  it  is  not  incredible  that  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  Bible  miglit  be  recovered 
from  the  memories  of  those  who  go  thither. 
This  is  certainly  true  if  the  current  opinions 
in  the  Christian  Churches  are  true,  that  all 
Heretics  and  Jews  are  sent  there.  A  Hades 
full  of  Protestants,  as  the  Romanists  think, 
could  hardly  be  without  the  Gospel.  A 
place  of  torment  where  Roman  Catholics  are 
found  by  the  hundreds  of  millions — popes, 
archbishops,  monks,  nuns,  and  all,  could 
hardly  be  in  such  terrible  ignorance  of 
Christ  and  his  Word.  The  Old  Testament, 
with  its  Messianic  j^romise,  could  hardly  jmss 
from  the  minds  of  all  Jews.  Even  Unita- 
rians, Universalists,  and  German  Rationalists 
might  reasonably  recall  some  of  those  pas- 
sages of  the  New  Testament  that  contain  in 
them  the  sum  of  the  gospel,  and  are  called 
by  Luther  little  Bibles.  In  this  case  we 
would  have  to  ask  Avhether  the  gospel  could 
lose  its  i^ower  there  ;  whether  it  would  be 
deprived  of  the  influence  of  the  Divine 
Spirit,  and  finally,  whether  all  those  who 
have  gone  there  have  become  so  hardened 
as  to  be  incapable  of  faith  and  repentance? 

(3)  It  has  been  generally  thought  by  the 
advocates  of  an  extension  of  redemption  to 
the  abode  of  the  lost,  that  the  Saviour  might 
commission  some  of  the  redeemed  of  this 
world  to  preach  his  gospel  there.  It  is  true 
this  would  be  a  difficult  and  hazardous  work 
for  any  man  to  undertake.  It  is  true  that 
there  was  an  impassable  gulf  that  Abraham 
and  Lazarus  were  not  allowed  to  cross.  But 
this  did  not  prevout  our  Saviour  from_cri)Sg- 
ing  that  gulf  during  his  ministry  to   the 


1889v] 


REDEMPTION  AFTER   DEATH. 


101) 


V 


underworld,  and  it  docs  not  exclude  the  pos- 
Kibility  that  he  might  bridge  that  chasm  for 
tlie  heralds  of  redemption  in  his  wondrous 
love  for  lost  souls.  It  is  conceivable  that  he 
may  have  done  tliis.  But  it  is  without  any 
warrant  from  Holy  Scripture  and  must  re- 
main pure  conjecture.  The  difficulty  lies 
not  in  the  inability  of  the  Messiah  to  send, 
or  in  the  readiness  of  preachers  to  go,  but  in 
the  feasibility  of  the  work  itself. 

JVIany  in  the  early  Church  thought  this 
work  feasible.  The  Sheplierd  of  Hermas 
represents  the  apostles  and  martyrs  as  carry- 
ing on  the  preaching  of  Christ  in  Hades. 
And,  indeed,  what  man  is  there,  wlio  has  a 
spark  of  heroism,  who  would  not  rather 
work  for  Christ  among  the  lost  in  Hades,  if 
there  were  any  possibility  of  sucli  a  work, 
than  to  pass  centuries  in  a  dreamy  state  of 
existence  in  Paradise,  or  live  a  life  of  ease 
and  selfish  gratification  in  the  heights  of 
heaven  ?  Far  better  to  work  in  Sheol  than 
idle  in  heaven.  The  current  views  of  the 
state  of  blessedness  are  unethical  and  de- 
moralizing. They  have  little  attraction  for 
men  of  intellect  and  ])owcr,  or  for  souls  on 
lire  with  love  to  C'lr.L  t  and  eager  for  the  re- 
demption of  men.  It  we  cannot  serve  our 
(Saviour  in  heaven  better  than  on  earth,  there 
is  little  to  attract  us  after  death.  But 
thanks  be  unto  God,  we  know  that  we  may 
glorify  him  in  the  better  world.  We  may 
share  the  aim  of  Paul,  that  whether  in 
heaven  or  on  earth  we  may  be  well-pleasing 
to  Him.  There  are  inexhaustible  treasures 
of  redemption  that  we  may  appropriate  for 
ourselves,  and  that  we  may  share  in  distrib- 
uting to  others. 

All  such  theories  of  redemption  of  lost 
souls  after  death  are  castles  in  the  air.  No 
one  can  put  any  confidence  in  tlicm.  They 
have  no  solid  ground  on  which  to  rest. 
They  are  not  so  dangerous  as  some  would 
have  it  ;  they  do  not  convince  any  one  ; 
they  cannot  disturb  the  real  faith  of  the 
Church.  They  may  unsettle  those  Avho 
see  the  crisis  for  mankind  in  the  event 
of  death.  And  they  will  render  real  service 
if  they  sliould  destroy  this  error  altogether. 

They  may  expose  the  weakness  of  the  cur- 
rent Eschatology.  They  may  tlius  be  a 
blessing  in  disguise.  For  the  real  faith  of 
the  Church,  as  expressed  in  the  creeds  of 
Christendom,  looks  forward,  now  as  in  the 
ages  of  the  past,  not  to  the  day  of  death  or 
a  millennium,  but  to  the  Second  Advent  of 
the  Messiah  and  his  day  of  judgment,  when 
He  will  make  the  final  decision  that  will  is- 
sue in  everlasting  ruin  to  some  Avretched 
ereatiires-feiit  in-^  '■ier}s;^figH[;lis8  to  ttic  hu- 
man race  as  a  whole. 


VIII.  Salvation  of  Infants. 

In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries 
in  the  Lutheran,  Anglican,  and  lieformed 
National  Churches,  the  entire  population 
belonged  to  the  Church  by  baptism,  and  the 
great  majority  by  partaking  of  the  Lord's 
Supper.  The  National  Churches  took  entire 
possession  of  their  respective  countries,  and 
either  banished,  reduced  to  submission,  im- 
prisoned, or  put  to  death  dissenters.  TheA 
conception  of  the  everlasting  death  of  chil- 
dren did  not  spring  into  the  mind  of  theo- 
logians or  the  people,  except  so  far  as  they 
were  involved  in  the  everlasting  damnation 
of  the  heathen.  This  was  taken  as  a  matter 
of  course.  But  in  those  days  there  was  lit- 
tle contact  with  the  heathen,  and  the  mind 
of  men  was  not  impressed  with  this  awful 
fact.  There  were  a  few  theologians,  such  as 
Zwingli  and  Coelius  Secundus  Curio,  who 
held  that  the  grace  of  God  extended  to  the 
heathen.  But  at  that  time  theology  did  not 
confront  the  problem. 

The  development  of  Puritanism  in  the 
seventeenth  century  and  the  origination  of 
a  large  number  of  sects  in  Holland  and  Great 
Britain,  such  as  Anabaptists,  Baptists,  Qua- 
kers, Unitarians,  Universalists,  Arminians, 
and  the  new  circumstances  that  arose,  dis- 
closing thousands  and  millions  of  unbaptized 
children  in  Christian  lands,  forced  the  ques- 
tion of  the  salvation  of  unbaptized  children 
upon  the  attention  of  theologians.  Further- 
more, the  result  of  the  religious  conflicts  in 
Great  Britain  and  Holland  produced  a  large 
class  of  men  and  women  who  declined  com- 
munion Avith  the  churches  in  the  way  of 
sacrament.  The  strict  rules  of  the  dissent- 
ing churches,  excluding  all  but  those  who 
would  comply  with  their  rules,  and  changing 
the  churclies  into  a  multitude  of  religious 
clubs,  increased  the  number  of  the  popula- 
tion who  did  not  belong  to  the  Church  and  j 
were  not  professing  Christians.  This  forced 
the  ministry  to  consider  wliether  these  men 
and  women,  many  of  them  leading  upright 
lives,  Avcre  to  be  damned  in  Hell  forever. 
In  the  eighteenth  century  these  matters 
came  before  the  mind  and  heart  of  Chris- 
tians as  never  before.  The  result  of  these 
things  has  been  a  gradual  cliange  of  opinion 
on  these  subjects,  and  the  recognition  of  the 
universal  salvation  of  infants  and  the  ad- 
mission that  men  may  be  saved  who  are  not 
in  communion  with  the  Church. 

Tlie  present  century  brought  the  phurch 
of  Christ  face  to  face  with  tlie  heatlieB.  world. 
Hundreds  of  millions  of  heathen  stj  ad  over 
against  nominal  Christians  half  the  \x  num- 
ber.    The  latter  must  be  reduced  b  ^  multi- 


\^ 


-^  X'o^VA- 


^(.M'      cX>s.OWK.*rfO--^*^     yJ^/nSL^-t 


^ 


/w^-7 


V^ 


^ 


110 


MAGAZINE   OF  C 


^ 


^RISTIAJSr  LITERATURE. 


tudcs  who  arc  iiiliabitauts  of  Christian  lands, '', 
but  who  do  not  profess  the  faith  of  Christ. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  are  not  one  liun-  ■ 
dred  millions  on  the  earth  to-day  who  com-  ' 
ply  with  the  methods  of  salvation  taught  in 
Christian  Churches.  The  damnation  of 
these  millions  of  heathen,  who  have  never 
heard  of  Christ,  and  millions  of  nominal 
Christians,  who  do  not  use  the  means  of  grace 
offered  them  by  the  Church,  is~'an  awful 
fact  for  tlT6  Church  to  confront  after  nearly 
■  two  thousand  years  of  Christianity  on  the 
earth.  The  ministry  and  the  people  do  not 
really  believe  that  these  multitudes  will  be 
damned.  The  matter  is  eased  a  little  by  the 
theory  that  the  dying  infants  of  the  heathen 
arc  saved,  and  some  of  the  best  of  heathen 
adults  may  attain  redemption  ;  but  the  great 
mass  of  the  adult  population  of  Asia  and 
Africa — yes,  of  Europe  and  America  also — 
are  doomed  to  heli-fire  according  to  the  pop- 
ular theology.  The  ministers  preach  it,  and 
i^Jie  people  listen  to  this  doctrine  as  they  do 
to  many  others,  but  they  are  not  moved  by 
it.  They  accept  it  as  orthodox  doctrine 
without  understanding  it  ;  but  they  do  not 
really  believe  it  in  their  hearts.  HJJiQ'  did^ 
they  would  be  more  worthy  of  djamnation ' 
than  the  heathen  themselves.  If  a  single 
man  were  in  peril  of  physical  death,  the  whole 
community  would  be  aroused  to  save  him. 
No  price  would  be  too  great.  Men  and 
women  would  cheerfully  risk  their  lives  to 
save  him.  Those  who  would  not  do  this 
would  be  regarded  as  base  cowards.  But 
here,  according  to  the  average  missionary 
sermon,  are  untold  millions  of  heathen  per- 
ishing without  the  gospel,  and  at  death  go- 
ing into  everlasting  fire.  Vast  multitudes 
of  unevangelized  persons  in  our  cities  and 
towns  and  villages  are  confronting  the  same 
cruel  destiny. 

If  the  ministry  and  people  really  believed 
it  they  would  pour  out  their  Avealth  like 
water ;  they  would  rush  in  masses  to  the 
heathen  world  with  the  gospel  of  redemp- 
tion. There  would  ])e  a  new  crusade  that 
would  put  the  old  crusades  to  shame.  Those 
who  have  the  gospel,  and  will  not  give  it  to 
others  who  know  it  not,  may  incur  a  worse 
doom  in  the  day  of  judgment  than  the  igno- 
rant. Those  who  knew  the  Lord's  will  and 
did  it  not  will  be  beaten  with  many  stripes  ; 
those  Avho  knew  not  and  did  things  worthy 
of  stripes  with  few  stripes.  * 
I  The  difficulty  is  to  construct  the  doctrine 
I  of  the  salvation  cf  infants  and  the  heathen 
in  harrnony  with  established  doctrines. 
TheJ^Qtestant  doctriiic  of  justification  by 

*  Luke  xii.  48. 


faith  implies  that  there  can  be  jio  salvation  -\ 
;vithja^t  justilication  on  the  part  of  God  and  ^  S 
faitl}''bn  the  part  of  man.     The  Westminster  a  ^ 
doctrine  is  that,  t 

"  God  did  from  all  eternity,  decree  to  justify  all 
the  elect  ;  and  Christ  did,  in  tlic  fulness  of  time,  die  y^ 
for  their  sins,  and  rise  again  for  their  justification  ;^ 
nevertheless  tliey  are  not  justified,  until  the  Holy-  ^  ^ 
Spirit  doth,  in  due  time,  actually  apply  Christ  unto  " 
them"  (xi.  4). 

This  passage  not  only  teaches  the  common 
Protestant  doctrine  of  justification  and  con- 
nects it  Avith  the  doctrine  of  election,  but 
it  also  rules  out  the  Antinomian  doctrine  of 
eternal  justificationrjvithout  faithT''  which 
was  current  in  the  time  of  the  AYesnninster 
Assembly.  The  AYestminster  divines  did 
not  think  of  any  application  of  Christ  apart 
from  personal  faith ;  for  they  distinctly  state : 

"  Redemption  is  certainly  applied,  and  effectually     \ii 
communicated,  to  all  those  tor  whom  Christ  hath  fr. 
purchased  it ;  who  are  in  time  by  the  Holy  Ghost 
enabled  to  believe  in  Christ,  according  to  the  gos- 
pel ■'  (Larger  Catechism,  Ans.  59). 

Believing  in  Clirist  is  therefore  universal  so 
far  as  the  elect  of  God  and  the  redeemed  of 
Christ  are  concerned.  There. i^^osaly^on 
without  personal  faith. 

The  Westminster  divines  were  not  clear  in 
their  views  as  to  the  faith  of  infants  and  in-     v 
capables.     Some  supposed  that  the  children, 
being  bound  in  the  covenant  with  their  par-      « 
ents,  the  parents'  faith  laid  hold  of  justifica- 
tion for  their  children  ;  others  supposed  that      ^ 
the   germs   of   faith  and   repentance   were      * 
planted  in  them  by  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
work  of  regeneration  either  in  connection 
Avith  Baptism  or  apart  from  it. 

ISTo  orthodox  Protestant  thought  of  justi- 
fication without  the  exercise  of^personal  fajlh 
on  the  parT^of  the  justified,  lliere  must 
be  an  application  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  Holy 
Spiiit  to  every  one  to  be  saved,  and  there 
must  be  a  personal  appropriation  of  Jesus 
Christ  on  the  part  of  all  Avho  are  redeemed. 
The  order  of  Salvation  is  necessary  in  all  its 
l^arts  for  every  child  of  God. 

"  Those  whom  God  effectually  calleth  he  also 
freely  justifieth"  (xi.  1).  ( Westminster  Confession  of 
Faitli.)  "All  those  that  are  justified,  God  vouchsaf- 
cth,  in  and  for  his  only  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  to  make 
partakers  of  the  grace  of  adoption' '  (xii.  1).  "  They 
■vvho  are  effectually  called  and  regenerated,  having 
a  new  heart  and  a  new  spirit  created  in  tlicm,  arc 
farther  sanctified  really  and  personally"  (xiii.  1). 
"  They  whom  God  hath  acccptetl  in  his  Beloved, 
effectually  called  and  sanctified  by  his  Spirit,  can 
neither  totally  nor  finally  fall  away  from  the  state 
of  grace  ;  but  shall  certainly  persevere  therein  to  the 
end,  and  be  eternally  saved  "  (xvii.  1). 

There  is  but  one  way^f  salvation  for  all, 
one  orilo  salutis.  Tliere  fs  but  one  kind  of 
justification,  one  kind  of  sanctification,  one 


v^ 


1889.] 


REDEMPTION  AFTER   DEATH. 


Ill 


kind  of  saving  faith,  and  one  kind  of  repent- 
ance unto  life.  The  modern  extension  of 
tl\^  doctrine  of  redemption  so  as  to  include 
not  only  infants  of  Believers,  but"  alTTnf ants  ; 
and  also  so  as  to  embrace  not  only  the  peo- 
ple of  God  under  the  Old  Covenant  and  the 
people  of  God  who  accept  the  New  Cove- 
nant, but  also  multitudes  from  among  the 
heathen,  who  have  not  the  light  of  either  of 
these  covenants,  but  only  the  light  of  ua- 
tiu'.ej  raises  the  question  how  these  can  be 
saved  consistently  with  the  Protestant  doc- 
trine of  justification  by  faith  and  the  Puri- 
tan doctrine  of  sanctification.  It  is  evident 
that  the  orthodox  divines  of  the  seventeenth 
century  constructed  their  systems  of  doc- 
trine without  any  conception  of  such  an  ex- 
tension of  redemption.  The  theory  of  some 
modern  theologians,  such  as  the  elder  and 
younger  Hodge,  that  they  may  be  saved 
without  personal  faith,  subverts  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  Protestantism.  The 
current  unformulated  theory  that  they  can 
be  saved  without  acceptance  of  the  right- 
eousness of  Christ  undermines  the  funda- 
mental principle  of  Christianity.  Christians 
are  not  saved  in  classes  or  masses,  but  as  in- 
dividuals out  of  the  mass  of  corruption.  It 
is  anti-Christian  to  say  that  the  entire  race 
of  men  may  be  regarded  as  redeemed,  unless 
it  is  expressly  said  that  they  are  lost.  On 
the  contrary,  the  Bible  and  the  Creeds  teach 
that  all  are  lost  unless  they  are  personally 
redeemed  and  experience  the  work  of  grace. 
There  must  be  some  way  in  which  infants, 
incapables  and  pious  men  beyond  the  bounds 
of  Christendom  may  be  brought  into  con- 
tact with  God  and  His  Christ,  and  have  an 
opportunity  to  believe  in  him,  or  they  cannot 
be  saved  in  accordance  with  the  teachings 
of  the  Scriptures  and  the  creeds  of  Chris- 
tendom. Unless  this  can  be  done  Protes- 
tantism— yes,  the  entire  system  of  Christian 
doctrine,  breaks  down. 

The  fault  of  modern  Protestantism  has 
been  in  neglecting  the  doctrine  of  salvation 
as  a  whole,  with  its  ordo  salutis,  and  in 
thinking  too  exclusively  of  the  initial  steps. 
Justification  by  faith  was  too  exclusively  in 
the  minds  of  the  early  Protestants,  and  re- 
geiieration  is  unduly  prominent  in  American 
ProfestanT  Theology  since  the  rise  of  Meth- 
odism, having 'taken  the  place  of  the  older 
doctrine  of  Elfectual  Calling.  It  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  understand  that  the  ]3ivine  Spirit 
may  regenerate  all  the  elect  in  this  world, 
and  plant  within  them  the  seeds  of  faith 
and  repentance,  so  that  redemption  may 
I  mvni  tejjg^li  Ti  n  i  n  g  ^ro  f  or  infants  and  in- 
•  ■apuDlesT  S^Tnay^Is'o''"see''tTiT8~iaith  and 
repentance  germinate  and  spring  up  under 


the  light  of  nature,  and  feel  after  God  and 
His  Christ  in  many  among  the  heathen  ;  but 
the  redemption  thus  begun  must  in  some 
way  bring  them  to  Christ  in  order  that  they 
may  have  the  possession  and  enjoyment  of 
salvation. 

From  the  Arminian  doctrine  of  probation 
and  of  human  responsibility  for  the  initia- 
tion of  redemption,  the  first  steps  of  regen- 
eration must  take  place  in  the  Intermediate 
State  for  all  these  persons  or  not   at   all. 
But   from    the   Calvinistic   position,  which 
makes  the  divine  grace  prevenient,  it  is  easy 
to  hold  that  every  elect  person  is  a(  tually 
regenerated  in  this  life  before  he  lea^  es  the 
world.     It   seems   that   the   birth   o\  little 
children  into  this  world  would  have  no  sig- 
nificance if  they  were  not  to  have  th  eir  re- 
generation here  also.     They  must  b(    bom 
as  children  of  Adam  to  take  part  in  i\.  e  ruin 
of  the  race,  and  it  would  seem  that  oi  ly  the 
children  of  Adam  have  a  share  in  th  3  Sav- 
iour of  the  race.     From  this  point  of  view 
Calvinism  ought  to  have  no  hesitation  in  ad- 
vancing  into   the   doctrine  of   tho    lliddle, 
State.     The_£aliiLtiQ'u  Avhich  isbo^ih^wi- 
^^yzegejQ^iapm^Iis-  Citrried_.Qii_.His^.     For 
"The  vast  majority  of  our  race  who  die  in  in- 
fancy or  have  lived  beyond  the  range  of  the 
means   of  grace,   their  salvation  begjm   in 
this  life  by  regeneration  is  carried  on  m  the .' 
Intermediate  State  with  the  exercise  of  per-,  ' 
sonal  faith  in  Christ,  whom  they  know  there 
for  the  firs^;.     There  the  germs  of  faith  and  \ 
repentance   that    have    been    put    in  their\j 
hearts  in  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit  U 
spring  up  in  the  sunlight  of  Christ's  own  .1 
face,  and  lay  hold  of  him  as  their  Saviour,  i 
Not  till  then  are  they  justified,   for  there  J 
can   be  no  justification  without   faith    for  A 
them  any  more  than  for  others.     The  Inter- ( I 
mediate  State  is  for  them  a.  state-ci  iiessed  / 
possibilities  of  redemptioii.     This  is  bbauti- 
"fiilTy  expressed  in  a  hymn  of  Ephraim,  the 
Syrian,  translated  by  Professor  Gilbert  : 

"Our  God,  to  Thcc  sweet  praises  rise        ' 
From  youthful  lips  in  Paradise  ; 
From  boys  fair  robed  in  spotless  white, 
And  nourished  in  the  courts  of  light. 
In  arbors  they,  where  soft  and  low 
The  blessed  streams  of  light  do  tlow  : 
And  Gabriel,  a  shepherd  strong, 
Doth  gently  guide  their  tlocks  along. 
Their  honors  higher  and  more  fair 
Than  those  of  saints  and  virgins  are  ; 
God's  sons  an;  they  on  that  far  coast. 
And  nurselings  of  the  Holy  Ghost." 

The  Intermediate  State  is.  therefore,  for 
a  considerable  portion  of  our  race  a  state  for  , ,' 
the    cgnsurmnatJ.OTi — of.^Uicir  jn.'^ti^ci'^i&n- 
The  Protestant  doctrine  of  justificrtti|bn  bv 
faith  alone  forces  to  this  position. 


(J 


i 


P.7. 


1 


s.n. 


T 


lOi 


h 


113 


^1    i^t    (jL^  A 


(a^'T 


Ht^ 


/^ 


>^ 


MAGAZINE   OF 


IX.  Progressive  ^anctijication. 


C^ISTIAN  LITERATURE. 


[Dec. 


U. 


K 


But  justification  by  faith  belongs  to  the 
carher  stages  of  redemption.  All  those  who 
are  justified  are  also  sanctified.  No  one  can 
be  ultimately  and  altogether  redeemed  with- 
out sanctification. 

It  is  necessary  that  believers  should  have 
the  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  that 
they  should  be  "  more  and  more  quickened 
and'  strengthened  in  all  saving  graces  to  the 
practice  of  true  holiness,  without  which  no 
man  shall  see  the  Lord,"  and  '*  so  the  saints 
grow  ^n  grace,  perfecting  holiness  in  the, 
fear  of  God."  The  doctrine  of  immediate 
sanctification  is  a  heresy  which  has  always 
been  rejected  by  orthodox  Protestants. 

The  Westminster  Confession  definitely 
states  I:  "  This  sanctification  is  throughout, 
yet  imperfect  in  this  life."  Jf.  imperfect  in 
this  life  for  all  believers,  there  is  no  other 
state  in  which  it  can  be  perfected  save  in  the 
Intermediate  State.  The  Intermediate 
State  is  therefore  for  all  believers  without 
exception  a  state  for  their  sanctijication. 
They  are  there  trained  in  the  school  of 
Christ,  and  are  prepared  for  the  Christian 
perfection  which  they  must  attain  ere  the 
judgment  day. 

I  am  well  aware  that  it  has  been  a  com- 
mon opinion  that  believers  are  at  their  death 
— that  is,  in  the  very  moment  of  death,  com- 
pletely sanctified.  This  opinion  seems  to  be 
favored  by  the  statement  of  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism— "  The  souls  of  believers  are  at  their 
death  made  perfect  in  holiness."  (Quest.  37.) 
This  is  one  of  a  number  of  instances  in  which 
the  Shorter  Catechism  by  its  brief,  unguarded 
statements  has  occasioned  error.  The  Larger 
Catechism  is  fuller  and  clearer  when  it  says  : 
"  The  communion  in  glory  with  Christ, 
which  the  members  of  the  invisible  church 
enjoy  immediately  after  death,  is  in  that 
their  souls  are  then  made  perfect  in  holi- 
ness, and  received  into  the  highest  heavens, 
where  they  behold  the  face  of  God  in  light 
and  glory.       (Quest.  80.) 

The  phrase  "  immediately  after  death"  is 
the  phrase  of  the  question  :  "  What  is  the 
communion  in  glory  with  Christ  which  the 
members  of  the  invisible  church  eujo}'  im- 
mediately after  death  ?"  and  it  is  designed  to 
cover  the  entire  period  of  the  Intermediate 
State  as  distinguished  from  the  state  of 
resurrection,  and  it  is  not  limited  to  the 
moment  after  death,  in  which  the  Interme- 
diate State  has  its  beginning.  This  is  clear 
from  Question  82,  where  the  general  ques- 
tion. "  What  is  the  communion  in  glory 
^KicMthT'inembers'cTTtTTrrnTiTnble  chtirch 
havci  'ith  Christ  ?"  is  answered  in  the  follow- 


el-; 


ing  three  divisions  of  condition,  which  appear 
in  three  questions  that  follow  :  "  The  com- 
munion  in   glory,   which    the   members  of 
the  invisible  church  have  with  Christ,  is  in 
this   life,  immediately  after  death,  and   at 
last  perfected  at  the  resurrection  and  day  of 
judgment."     It  ought  to  be  clear  to  any  one 
that,  having  made  sanctification  a  work  of 
God's  grace  and  a  growi;h  extending  through 
the  entire  life  of \  the  believer  and  left  in- 
complete at  death,  Mid  that,  having  denied^^ 
the   doctrine   of    imn;iediate   sanctification,  *^ 
the  Westminster  divines  could  not  be  so  in- 
consistent as  to  teach  that  at  the  moment 
of  death,  occurring  at  various  stages  in  the-^ 
growth    in    holiness,    sanctification     then 
changed  its  nature,  ceased  to  be  a  progres-    " 
sive  work,  a  growth,  and  became  immediate,    *\ 
an  act  of  God  like  justification.     This  would 
be  to  undermine  the  Protestant  doctrine  of    , 
sanctification.     It  is  essential  to  the  integ 
rity  of  the  Protestant  system  of  faith  that  i 
we  should  resist  the  Antinomian  doctrines 
of  eternal  justification  without  faith  and  of 
immediate  sanctification  at  any  time  or  in 
any  state  or  place. 

There  are  some  theologians  who  persuade 
themselves  that  they  can  believe  in  the  im- 
mediate justification  and  the  immediate 
sanctification  of  infants,  of  incapables  and 
of  heathen  adults  in  the  change  of  death,  in 
that  supreme  moment  of  transition  from  this 
life  to  the  Middle  State.  Such  a  theory 
may  be  stated  in  words,  but  it  is  inconceiv- 
able in  fact.  What  a  transformation  would 
take  place  in  the  intellectual  and  moral 
powers  of  infants,  incapables  and  the  dark- 
minded  heathen  !  Such  a  metamorphosis  is 
not  taught  in  the  Scriptures  or  the  Creeds. 
It  would  violate  the  intellectual  and  moral 
constitution  of  man. 

Those  who  believe  it  may  claim  that  all 
things  are  possible  to  God.  But  it  might 
be  said  that  it  is  just  as  possible  for  God  to 
use  the  water  of  Baptism,  ex  oj^ere  operate, 
to  work  regeneration,  as  Sacramentarians  be- 
lieve ;  and  it  is  just  as  possible  that  the  ele- 
ments of  the  Lord's  Supper  may  be  changed 
into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord,  as 
the  lioman  Catholics  believe.  These  divine 
transformations  are  just  as  possible  to  God 
and  just  as  credible  to  the  mind  of  man  as 
the  immediate  transformation  of  a  little  babe 
into  a  perfectly  holy  man  in  the  image  of 
Jesus  Christ  ;  or  of  the  instantaneous  ac- 
complishment of  the  entire  ordo  sahttis  for 
an  idiot  in  the  very  moment  of  death.  All 
such  magical  doctrines  are  subversive  of  the 
entire  structure  of  Protestantism.  They 
belong  to  rh— «g€  r.£_j>wgif^-  ajifl.have.  no 
place  in  an  age  of  Eeason  and  Faith. 


1889.] 


REDEMPTION  AFTER  DEATH. 


113 


It  was  a  keen  thrust  of  Mohler  that  Prot- 
estantism without  4.  purgatory  must  either 
let  men  enter  heaven  stained  with  sin,  or 
else  think  of  an  imWediate  magical  trans- 
formation at  death,  W  which  sin  mechani- 
cally and  violently  f afls  oS  from  us  with  the 
body.  Hase  justly  replied  that  Protestant- 
ism would  hot  accept  this  dilemma,  and  that 
Protestant  Theology  taught  that  the  divine 
grace  was  operative,  and  men  capable  of 
moral  development  after  death.  This  view  is 
the  established  opinion  in  German  Theology. 
Dorner,  Martensen,  Kahnis,  and  other  di- 
vines teach  that  there  must  be  a  growth 
in  sanctificatio.u  in  the  Middle  t^tate.  All 
ProTestants  must  accept  this  doctrine  or 
they  are  sure  to  be  caught  in  the  inconsis- 
tency of  magical,  mechanical  and  unethical 
opinio Qs.  This  opinion  is  commonly  held 
by  Protestants  in  Great  Britain.  Why 
should  Protestants  in  America  lag  behind 
their  brethren  in  Europe  ?  We  have  been 
caught  in  the  snares  of  recent  errors.  Let 
us  break  through  the  snares  and  re-establish 
ourselves  in  the  ancient  Christian  doctrine 
of  the  Middle  State. 

The  deeper  ethical  sense  in  German  The- 
ology since  Kant  forced  divines  to  distinguish 
grades  of  sin  and  guilt  and  punishment,  and 
to  study  as  never  before  the  psychological 
origin  of  sin  and  its  development  in  human 
nature.  Attention  was  thus  called  to  the 
words  of  Jesus  that  the  sin  against  the  Holy 
Spirit  was  the  only  eternal  sin,  the  only  un- 
pardonable transgression.  This  sin  is  not 
only  unpardonable  in  this  age,  but  also  in 
the  age  to  come.  This  raises  the  question 
whether  any  man  is  irretrievably  lost  ere  he 
commits  this  unpardonable  sin,  and  whether 
those  who  do  not  commit  it  in  this  world  ere 
they  die  are,  by  the  mere  crisis  of  death, 
brought  into  an  unpardonable  state  ;  and 
whether,  when  Jesus  said  that  this  sin  against 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  unpardonable  here  and 
also  hereafter,  he  did  not  imply  that  all  other 
sins  might  be  pardoned  hereafter  as  well 
as  here.  This  conclusion  was  reached  by 
Nitzsch,  Tholuck,  Julius  Muller,  Martensen, 
Dorner,  Schaff,  and  many  others. 
'  The  doctrmoof  immediate  justification  and 
sanctification  at  death  involves  the  conceit 
that  the  child  who  dies  in  infancy  a  few  mo- 
ments after  birth  is  immediately  justified  and 
sanctified,  receives  saving  faith  and  all  the 
Christian  graces  in  an  instant  ;  while  his 
brother,  who  lives  in  this  world,  is  not  justi- 
fied until  he  reaches  the  age  in  which  he 
can  exercise  personal  faith,  and  then  he;  has 
all  the  struggles  of  life  to  undergo  until  he 
roaches  the  limit>'  oOT'i''i;!jAJJf<^-}iajfchout  the 
icomforts  of  sauctiijcatiun,  which  he  cannot 


receive  until  death.  If  this  were  so,  then 
blessed  are  those  who  die  in  infancy,  and 
thus  outstrip  their  fellows  in  the  Christian 
race.  Vastly  better  to  be  born  to  die,  than 
to  be  born  to  live  in  this  uncertain  world. 
What  laarent  would  not  prefer  to  lay  all  his 
children  in  an  early  grave,  assured  of  their 
salvation,  rather  than  expose  them  to  the 
dreadful  risks  of  life  and  the  possibility  of 
eternal  damnation?  According  to  the  cur- 
rent beliefs,  those  Chinese  mothers  who  put 
their  children  to  death  make  more  Chris- 
tians than  all  the  missionaries. 

Overcome  with  such  reflections,  we  might 
express  our  misery  in  the  complaint  of  Job, 

"  Why  died  I  not  from  the  womb  ? 

Why  did  I  not  give  up  the  ghost  when  I  camo  from 

the  belly  ? 
Why  did  the  knees  receive  me  ? 
Or  why  the  breasts,  that  I  should  suck  ? 
For  now  would  I  have  lain  down  and  been  qjuiet, 
I  would  have  slept ;  then  had  I  been  at  rest. '  ] 

The  Christian  doctrine  of  sanctification 
forces  us  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Middle 
State  is  now  and  has  ever  been  the  school 
of  Christian  Sanctification.  The  Eoman 
Catholic  doctrine  of  purgatory  is  a  perver- 
sion of  the  true  doctrine.  It  is  mechanical 
and  unethical,  like  other  peculiar  doctrines 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  system.  But  it  is 
better  than  a  blank  agnosticism.  There  is 
much  truth  and  some  comfort  in  the  midst 
of  its  errors,  and  it  has  profound  consolation 
to  offer  to  the  bereaved  and  penitent.  Here 
is  one  of  its  greatest  strongholds.  It  is  less 
mechanical  and  less  unethical  than  the 
theory  that  has  prevailed  among  Protestants 
that  there  is  both  immediate  justification 
and  immediate  sanctification  in  the  article 
of  death. 

The  doctrines  associated  with  Christian 
sanctification  lead  to  similar  results.  Are 
the  experiences  of  saving  faith,  assurance 
of  grace  and  salvation,  religious  worf^hip, 
the  communion  of  saints  confined  to  a  few 
adult  Christians  in  this  life  ?  Have  Ithey 
no  meaning  for  the  vast  majority  of  thje  re- 
deemed ?  Eathcr  for  the  best  of  Chris|;ians 
the  sublime  truth  and  comfort  involved  in 
these  doctrines  are  not  realized  until  they 
enter  upon  the  Middle  State. 

Those  who  hold  the  doctrine  of  iiamediate 
sanctification  at  death  do  not  really  under- 
stand the  Protestant  doctiiiio  of  sanctifica- 
tion and  the  princi])Uv^  <  f  ('liri<ti:ni  EtlJics^^ 

Regeneration  is  an  act  of  God  and I'rom 
its  very  idea  is  instantaneous,  for  it  is  the 
production  of  a  new  life  in  man.  Regener- 
ation is  only  one  of  the  terms  used-m  the 
Xew  Testament  to  "describe  this  begin  l-j^g 
of  Christian  life.     Resurrection  is  moreffi-e. 


I. 


t  ^4 


^/-r. 


^^ 


114 


J/:i  GAZINE  OF  CHRISTIAN  LITERA'TURE. 


[Dec, 


4~ 


quently  used.  Creation  is  also  employed. 
Effectual  Culling  was  preferred  by  the  West- 
minster divines.  All  these  terms  indicate  a 
divine  originating  act.  Regeneration  is  al- 
ways such,  and  cannot  be  otherwise. 

ikit  sauctilication   is  the  growth  of  that 
life  from  birth  to  full  manhood,  to  the  like- 
uess  of  Christ.     It  is  ahvays  in  this  world  a 
gi-owth  ;  it  is  incomplete  with  the  best  of 
men  at  death.     Docs  it  change  its  nature 
then  ?    Shall  the  little  babe,  tlie  idiot,  the 
seeker  after  (Jod  among  the  heathen,  the 
Roman  Catholic,    the  Protestant,   and  the 
saints  of  all  ages,  all  alike  in  an  instant  leap 
over  this  period  of  growth,  however  different 
their  stage  of  progress  may  be?     Shall  a  babe 
become  a  man  in  an  instant?     Shall  a  sav- 
age become  a  philosopher  in  a  moment  ? 
Shall  a  little  boy  become  a  John  Calvin,  and 
a  John  Calvin  be  conformed  to  the  image  of 
Christ,  all  at  a  divine  creative  word?     Then 
Ithe    difference    between    regeneration   and 
sanctification  has  disappeared  for  the  vast 
/majority  of  the  redeemed. 
kZrxlJk     ^^  regeneration  and  sanctification  are  one 
^"^     /^jict,  how  can  we  distinguish  the  intervening 
/..>  *-«/act  of  justification;    and  if    regeneration, 
justification,  and  sanctification  may  all  be 
one  at  death,  why  not  in  this  life,  as  the 
Plymouth  bretliren  teacli  ?     AVhy  was  the 
world  turned  upside  down  at  the  Protestant 
[{eformation  in  order  to  discriminate  justi- 
lication  by  faith  from  sanctification  if,  after 
all  these  centuries  of  Protestantism,  they 
;irc  really  identical  for  the  vast  majority  of 
our  race,  and  are  only  to  be  distinguished  in 
those  in  Christian  lands  who  live  to  matu- 
n^      rily  and  become   true  Christians  ?      Then 
_y  Protestantism  would  be  not  only  a  failure, 

i^  4  but  also  one  of  the  greatest  crimes  in  his- 
^ /tory.  This  is  the  pit  of  ruin  into  which  the 
^  \  Niogmatic  divines  of  our  day  would  force  us 
.»  /tCS2  rather  than  gxtend  the  light  of  redemption 
—         into  the  Middle  Sl^ate.  i 

TTiose  dnines  who  confound  eanctifica-! 
tion  with  justification  do  not  understand  the 
principles  of  sanctification  and  Christian 
Kthibs.  Sanctification  has  two  sides — morti- 
fication and  vivification  ;  the  former  is  man- 
ward,  the  latter  is  Oodward.  Bglicxfijcajiilp 
enter  the  Middle  »State_.eatQr_Bitij£sa  ;  they 
are  pardoned  and  justified  ;  they  are  mantled 
in  the  blood  and  righteousness  of  Christ ; 
and  nothing  will  be  able  to  separate  them 
from  his  love.  They  are  also  delivered  from  I 
all  temptations  such  as  spring  from  with- 
out, from  the  world  and  the  devil.  They/ 
are  encircled  with  influences  for  good  suclij 
^-^/*y  have  neier  -Cuip^d, .before.  But 
X}\£;frjf^-  still  the  same  persons,  with  airffi'd' 
gifti        '  '    ■       "    ■ 


rr 


:> 


Xf^  f '? 


and  g;ace8  and  also  all  the  eviLhabitI' 


of  jniiid.  disposition,  and  temper  they  had 
when  tiii'v  k'i't  the  world.  It  is  unpsycho- 
logical  to  suppose  that  these  will  all  be 
changed  in  the  moment  of  death.  It  is  the 
Manichean  hcresxto  hold  that  sin  belongs 
To  tHe^pTiysical  organization,  andisTaid  aside 
with  the  body.  If  this  were  so,  how  can  any 
of  our  race  carry  their  evil  natures  with 
them  into  the  Middle  State  and  incur  the 
punishment  of  their  sins  ?  The  Plymouth 
Brethren  hold  that  there  are  two  natures  in 
the  redeemed,  the  old  man  and  the  new. 
In  accordance  with  such  a  theory,  the  old 
man  might  be  cast  off  at  death.  13ut  this  is 
only  a  more  subtile  kind  of  Manicheism, 
which  has  ever  been  regarded  as  heretical. 
Sin,  as  our  Saviour  teaches,  has  its  source  in 
the  heart,  in  the  higher  and  immortal  part 
of  man.  It  is  the  work  of  sanctification  to 
overcome  sin  in  the  higher  nature.  We  may  i 
justly  hold  that  the  evil  that  lingers  in  the] 
higher  moral  nature  of  believers  Avill  be  sup- 
pressed and  modified  with  a^  energy  of  re- 1 
pentance,  humiliation,  confession,  and  de- 
termination that  will  be  more  powerful  than 
ever  before,  because  it  will  be  stimulated  by 
the  presence  of  Christ  and  his  saints.  The 
Christian  graces  will  unfold  under  more 
favorable  circumstances  than  in  this  world. 
If  it  were  possible  that  sanctification  at 
death  would  make  men  so  perfect  in  holi- 
ness a^  to  remove  all  evil  tendencies  and 
habits,  and  not  only  destroy  their  disposition 
to  sin,  but  so  lift  them  above  temptation 
that  they  would  be  not  only  like  our  Sav- 
iour during  his  earthly  life,  ^^o.^sr  non peccare, 
but  also  like  our  Saviour  after  he  had  sanc- 
tified himself  and  risen  victor  over  sin, 
death,  and  Satan,  and  attained  the  position 
of  7ion  posse  peccare  ;  even  then  they  would 
only  have  accomplished  the  negative  side  of 
sanctification,  the  mortification  or  entire 
putting  to  death  the  old  man  of  sin.  They 
would  still  have  to  undergo  the  process  of 
vivification  and  learn  ilie  practice  of  true 
holiness.  Wliat  i:)ractice  have  infants  and 
imbeciles  when  they  fenter  the  Middle 
State  ?  How  far  short  ^in  practice  do  the 
best  of  men  fall  ?  Are'  they  no  longer  to 
have  an  opportunity  for  the  practice  of  true 
holiness  ?  Will  there  be  no  chance  to  learn ' 
what  true  holiness  is  ?  The  Middle  State 
must,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  be  a 
school  of  Banctification. 

X.  Tlic  Reigning  Christ. 

It  was  a  profound  saying  of  Henry  B. 
Smith  that  Eschatology  ought  to  be  Chris- 
tologized.  It  is  greatly  to  be  regretted  that 
he  did  not'uTFiI  nis  ~O^Tl "  ai-tt^iiiiou^tcrthat 
theme,  and  give  us  the  fruit  of  his  iuvestiga- 


1889.] 


REDEMPTION  AFTER   DEATH. 


115 


tions.  Dr.  Schaff  gave  his  attention  to  this 
subject  many  years  ago  in  his  book  on  the 
Sin  against  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  has  added 
not  a  few  vahiable  hints  in  his  later  publi- 
cations, 

Christ  is  the  mediator  between  God  and 
man  in  tlie  exercise  of  his  offices  as  prophet, 
priest  and  king.  Those  who  passed  a  few 
years  in  tliis  world,  and  then  went  into 
the  Middle  State  and  have  been  there  for 
centuries,  have  not  passed  beyond  the  need 
of  his  mediation.  The  interval  between 
death  and  the  Judgment  has  its  lessons 
and  its  training  for  them  as  well  as  for 
ns.  The  prophetic  office  of  Christ  continues 
to  those  who  are  in  the  Middle  State,  After 
his  own  death  he  went  to  the  abode  of  the 
departed  spirits,  and  preached  unto  them  his 
gospel.  He  ascended  into  heaven,  taking 
his  redeemed  with  him.  All  those  whom 
he  has  purchased  with  his  blood  ascend  to 
him  to  abide  with  him.  The  redeemed  rob- 
ber is  not  the  only  one  to  whom  he  has  some- 
thing to  say  in  the  Middle  State,  All  be- 
lievers enter  his  school  and  are  trained  in 
the  mysteries  of  his  kingdom.  Those  mys- 
teries are  not  cleared  up  by  a  flash  of  reve- 
lation ;  they  are  revealed  as  the  redeemed  are 
able  to  apprehend  them  and  use  them.  It 
is  improbable  that  Augustine,  Calvin  and 
Luther  will  be  found  in  the  same  class-room 
as  the  redeemed  negro  slave  or  the  babe 
that  has  entered  heaven  to-day.  The  Fa- 
thers and  doctors  of  the  Church  will  be  the 
teachers  of  the  dead,  as  they  taught  the  liv- 

Christ's  priestly  office  continues  for  them. 
They  who  enter  the  Middle  State  still  need 
his  blood  and  righteousness.  Even  if  they 
commit  no  positive  sin  they  do  not  reach 
'  positive  perfection  until  their  sanctification 
has  been  completed  in  the  attainment  of  the 
complete  likeness  of  Christ.  They  need  the 
robe  of  Christ's  righteousness  until  they 
have  gained  one  of  their  own.  He  is  still 
their  surety,  who  has  engaged  with  them  and 
with  God  to  present  them  perfect  in  the  last 
great  day. 

But,  above  all,  Christ  is  a  king  in  the  In- 
termediate State.  Here  in  this  world  his 
reign  is  only  partial  ;  there  it  is  complete, 
|JIere  his  kingdom  is  interwoven  with  the 
kingdom  of  darkness.  There  it  is  apart 
from  all  evil  and  hindrance.  His  reign  is 
)ntiro  over  his  saints,  and  they  are  being 
prepared  by  him  for  the  advent  in  which 
they  will  come  with  him  to  reign  over  the 
world. 

The  Church  is  chiefly  in  the  Intermediate 

tibule   of  it.     In    this   woTId   we  have 


I 


learned  to  know  in  part  the  Messiah  of  the 
Cross  ;  there  in  tho  Middle  State  the  re- 
deemed know  tho  glory  of  the  Messiah  of 
the  Throne.  There  the  Church  is  in  its 
purity  and  complete  organization,  as  the 
bride  of  the  Lamb.  There  Christ  the  head 
and  his  body  the  Church  are  in  blessed 
unity.  We  have  glimpses  in  the  Apocalypse 
of  the  vast  assemblies  of  tho  saints  in  heaven 
about  the  throne  of  the  Lamb.  And  the 
Epistle  of  the  Hebrews  gives  us  a  picture  of 
their  organized  assembly  on  the  heights  of 
the  heavenly  Zion.  It  is  important  for  the 
Church  on  earth  to  have  a  better  apjirehen- 
sion  of  its  relations  to  the  Church  in  the 
Middle  State.  Tho  Protestant  branch  of 
Christendom  is  weaker  here  than  the  Rorr^an 
Catholic.  It  is  high  time  to  overcome  tlhis 
defect,  for  it  is  not  merely  agnosticism,  it  is 
sin  against  tho  mysteries  of  our  religion. 
The  modern  Church  ought  to  return  to  the 
faith  of  the  ancient  Church,  and  believe  in 
the  "  Communion  of  Saints." 

AT.  Consistency  of  Christian  Doctrine^ 

We  have  developed  the  doctrine  of  the 
Middle  State  in  tho  light  of  other  established 
Christian    doctrines.     If    the    Churcli   has.         _^ 
rightly  defined  these,  then  it  results   from  1 
them  that  wo  must  take  that  view  of  the  \ 
Middle  State  that  they  suggest.     If  wo  iire  I 
not  prepared  to  do  this  we  cast  doubt  upon 
the  legitimacy  and  competency  of  these  doc- 
trines.    We  confess  them    inadequate  and 
insufficient.     The  Calvinistic  system,  withr 
its  principle  that  salvation  is  by  the  divine* 
grace  alone,  and  that  this  grace  is  ever  pfe-|^  ^'><- 
venieut,  enables  us  to  believe  that  the  ordd<  \  «-t.^>, 
salutis  begins  for  all_wjioaTesaied_  h}^      !   ,.    , ' 
regeiyration^;QX.  fKeJSoIxBpi^^^  life.' ' 

Tms  regeneration  begets  the  seeds  of  a  per-f 
feet  Christian  life.  For  some  the  07-do  sal- 
utis makes  no  further  advance  in  this  lile  ; 
for  others  it  advances  in  ditferent  degrees 
and  stages  ;  but  for  all  the  redeemed  tlie 
Middle  State  is  of  vast  importance  as  the 
state  in  which  our  redemption  is  taken  ip  I 
where  it  is  left  incomplete  in  this  life  aid 
then  carried  on  to  its  perfection.  This  view ' 
of  the  Middle  Stato  gives  it  its  true  theo- 
logical importance.  It  enables  us  to  look 
forward  with  hope  and  joy  for  an  entrance 
upon  it.  This  lifo  is  an  introduction  to  it. 
It  mediates  between  death  and  the  resurri  c- 
tiou,  and  prepares  for  the  ultimate  blesse  d- 
ness.  ' 

We  have  thus  far  considered  only  the  re- 
deemed.    Those  who  do  not  belong  to  that 
company  also  enter  intothA  Aridrlla  J^-ot-y. 
But  their  place  is  a  dflferent  one.     It  is  ^\^^^  ^ 
resented  as  a  prison,  a  place  of  destructiip^ 


116 


MA  GAZINJE   OF  CHRISTIAJSf  LITER  A  TUBE. 


[Dec, 


^v 


and  torment  before  the  resurrection  of  Christ, 
ill  which  tliey  are  reserved  for  the  day  of  judg- 
ment. There  is  a  silence  on  the  fate  of  the 
■wicked  in  the  Middle  State  since  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  that  is  profound  and  unbroken 
ill  the  New  Testament.  The  presumption 
is  that  their  condition  has  not  been  changed 
by  the  resurrection,  and  that  they  remain  in 
the  prison-house  of  Hades.  There  are  some 
who  hold  that  there  is  a  possibility  of  release 
from  the  prison  house  to  join  the  company 
of  the  blessed.  Such  a  hope  would,  indeed, 
be  a  comfort  if  it  could  be  indulged  for  all 
■  mankind.  But  there  seems  to  be  no  solid 
basis  on  v.'liich  tn  vv:A  it.  Tlie  grace  of  God 
is  so  gi'and  and  glorious  in  its  wonders  of  re- 
demption that  we  may  rest  upon  that  as  the 
solid  rock  of  comfort.  We  gain  more  lioj^e 
here  than  we  can  get  from  any  other  source 
whatsoever.  We  may  be  certain  that  when 
the  final  verdict  has  Jaeen  rendered,  we  shall 
not  be  surprised  that  so  many  were  not 
saved.  But  we  shall  rejoice  at  the  wonder- 
ful extent  and  richness  of  the  redemptive 
love  of  God  in  the  unexpected  multitudes 
of  the  blessed.  And  these  will  be  not 
chiefly  babes  and  imbeciles,  but  men  and 
women  who  have  undergone  hardships  in 
this  life,  and  have  overcome  in  its  trials  and 
temptations. 

If  we  could  find  evidence  in  the  Scrip- 
tures that  there  was  any  possibility  of  the  ex- 
tension of  the  benefits  of  regeneration  and  the 
efficacy  of  the  means  of  grace  into  the  abode 
of  the  lost,  we  should  be  glad  to  follow  it. 
Or  if  we  could  see  any  evidence  from  other 
Christian  doctrines  that  would  lead  to  such 
a  hope  we  would  gladly  embrace  it.  The 
Scrijitures  are  not  so  decided  against  it  -as 
miiny.jiuppose.  The  one  passage  with  refer- 
ciifce  to  Dives  is  not  decisive  for  the  present 
di$pensation,  and  therefore  does  not  shut  the 
door  of  hope.  The  preaching  of  Jesus  to 
tlijo  spirits  in  prison  is  not  decisive  for  the 
prbsent  dispensation,  and  therefore  does  not 
o^en  the  door  for  a  larger  hope.  Jesus  by 
hifi  resurrection  made  a  change  in  the  abode 
of  the  dead,  by  taking  some  of  them  at  least 
with  him  from  Hades  to  Heaven.  We  do 
not  know  what  changes  liave  been  made  in 
Hades  in  other  respects. 

The  Arminian  doctrine  of  Probation 
fojrces  all  those  who  believe  in  it  to  extend 
that  probation  into  the  Intermediate  State. 
Sooner  or  later  they  will  do  it.  But  the 
Cnlvinistic  system  is  in  a  very  different  po- 
fition.  The  Calvinistic  system  solves  the 
diiTicultics  in  a  much  better  way.  It  docs 
ijfitjimit  the  grace  of  God  by  human  ability 
ffmabilityr  Ana  "^^^TTteTTr-rs  Tn^t-hmg  in 
C^^xanism  itself  that  prevents  the  extension 


of  redemption  into  a  future  life.  In  point 
of  fact,  Universalism  sprang  out  of  an  ex- 
treme form  of  Calvinism.  The  grace  of  God 
might  work  in  Hades  as  well  as  in  this 
world.  Eegeneration  might  take  place  there 
as  well  as  here,  with  or  without  the  use  of 
the  means  of  grace.  But  we  cannot  escape 
the  consideration  that  no  one  goes  to  Hades 
who  has  not  been  previously  in  this  world, 
Avhere  the  work  of  regeneration  might  have 
been  wrought  without  waiting  for  the  Mid- 
dle State.  If  multitudes  of  infants  and  im- 
beciles are  regenerated  before  departing  from 
this  life,  why  not  also  all  others  who  are  to 
be  redeemed  ? 

Let  us  heed  the  Saviour's  warning, 
"  Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged."  AVe 
should  cease  damning  our  fellow-men  and 
sending  them  to  hell  for  difference  of  doc- 
trine, of  polity,  and  of  mode  of  worship. 
Certainly  if  it  rested  with  men,  not  one  of 
us  would  ever  see  heaven.  If  the  historic 
churches  were  to  be  the  judges,  they  would 
empty  heaven  save  of  a  very  few  ancient 
saints,  and  fill  hell  with  historic  Chris- 
tianity. 

If  the  judgment  of  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities of  the  historic  churches  were  rati- 
fied in  heaven  to-day,  as  they  claim  that  they 
will  be,  every  Christian  now  in  the  world 
would  be  excluded  from  heaven  when  he 
dies  by  the  official  decision  of  some  one  or 
more  of  the  various  ecclesiastic  organiza- 
tions that  now  govern  the  Christian  world. 
What  a  rcductio  ad  absurdum  is  the  present 
opinion  of  Christendom  on  this  subject  ! 

The  Messiah  is  at  hand.  There  is  a  day\ 
of  judgment  that  is  hastening  on.  We  are 
none  of  us  prepared  for  it.  Let  us  be  thank- ; 
ful  that  there  is  a  Saviour  and  a  congi-ega-l 
tion  of  saints  in  the  Middle  State  ready  to 
receive  us  and  prepare  us  for  that  day,  audi 
that  when  we  depart  this  life  in  feebleness? 
and  imperfection  we  may  be  received  into} 
the  company  of  the  blessed,  who  will| 
strengthen  us  and  help  us  to  climb  the] 
ascents  of  sanctificatiou  and  glory. 


CHEAP    MISSIONARIES    AND     MIS- 
SION  EDUCATION. 

[.1  Reply  to  ilic  ai'ticle,  "  CJieap  Missionaries,"  bt/ 
Meredith  Totcnsend,  reprinted  in  our  November 
ntimber,  pp.  93-97.] 

BY    PRINCIPAL   MILLER,  C.I.E.,  LL.D. 
From  Tfie.  Contemporary  Renew,  Oct.,  1689. 

It  is  a  sign  that  the  missionary  movement 
lias  oi'A'Y'^YrJ'^^tjn^^i^^tv  when  it  .1>*'"7.|)S  i 
be  treateu  ao  one  of  the  forces  bv  which  (in 


A 


:  -i*-«is!j^jT-.-.-at;r>jtJi*iitt!n' 


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